Railway crossing



J. H. HARDY.

RAILWAY CROSSING.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 25. 1921.

1942mm. Patented Aug. 8,1922.

2 S HEETS-SHEET I'- J. H. HARDY.

RAILWAY, CROSSING.

APPLICATION FILED 00125, 1921.

1 325,4? Patented. Aug. 8, 1922.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2- JAMES HARE-IS HARDY, OF CRAWFORD, MISSISSIPPT.

RAILWAY CROSSING.

Specification of Letters latent.

Patented Augz S, 1922.

Application filed October 25, 1921. Serial No. 510,273.

T (ZZZ 10110172, it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAIVIES HARRIs HARDY, resident of Crawford, in thecounty of Lowndes and State of Mississippi, and a citizen of the UnitedStates, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in RailwayCrossings, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a railway cross ing, and has for its object toprovide a readily operatable mechanism, wherein there is presented acontinuous set of rails for tratlic moving in a given direction, therails of the opposite set of rails so constructed as to be movedlaterally by the energy of the moving train to afford a sufficientclearance for the flanges of the wheels thereof.

In the accompanying drawings:

Fig. l is a plan view of the crossing.

Fig. 2 is a similar view thereof showing certain parts moved to give aclear track in one direction.

Fig. 3 is a detail view of one of the guard rail sections.

The numeral 1 designates a supporting bed arranged at the intersectionof the main line rails 2-2 and 3-3 which intersect at right angles toeach other. Arranged upon the base in alignment with'the set of mainline rails 2-2 are a set of rail sections 4-4, while a similar set ofrail sections 5-5 are arranged in alignment with the main line railsections 3-3. These rail sections k4 and 5-5 are tapered as at 6 attheir ends. At each corner of the intersected main line rail is arrangeda guard rail section, preferably consisting of forwardly extendingmembers 7 and 8 which are at right angles to each other and adapted tolie parallel with the inner sides of the main line sections 2-2 and 3-3.The outer ends of these members 7 and 8 are adapted to turn inwardlyfrom the main line rails for a purpose hereinafter set forth. Numerals 9and 10 indicate inwardly extending members which are adapted to lieparallel with the inside rail sections 4 and 5, these members beingtapered toward the outer end thereof and adapted at all times to be inthe space with respect to the rail sections 4 and 5. The members 7 and 9Fig. 1 are spaced as at 11 and the members 8 and 10 are spaced as at 12to provide clearance space for the flanges of the wheels. These members7- 8-9 and 10 are integral with a base 13 and move as one when actuatedas hereinafter explained. The forwardly extending members 7 and 8 areeach provided with laterally extending members 14 and 15, the member 14as disclosed in Fig. 1 being aligned with the rail section 5 having itsouter end tapered as at 16 to coincide with the tapered end of the railsection 5, the member beingtapered as at 17 to coincide with the taperedends of the rail section 44.

' As disclosed in Fig. 1, traffic is permissible upon the main linerails 3-3, the guard rails being resiliently held in that position bymeans of a bar 18 pivoted as at 19 to the base 1, the outer end thereofbeing pivotally connected as at 19 to the base 13 of the guard railmembers. The numeral 20 indicates a rod pivoted as at 21 to the base 1,the inner end thereof being slidably received upon the outer end of thebar 18. Received upon the rod 20 are cup members 22 and held therebetween upon the rod 20 is a tension spring 23. The numeral 24 indicatesstop members which are adapted to limit the movement of the guard railsections 9 and 10 in one direction. 7

As illustrated in Fig; 1, the guard rails are in a position to permittraflic on the main line rails 3-3, the inner ends of the guard rails 10lie parallel with the main line rails 3-3 abutting the stop member 24,while the inner ends of the guard rail 9 lie close to the rail sectionsH and in space relative to the stop member 24, the bars 18 and the rods20 being oif center and held in this position by the tension springs 23.The laterally extending members 14 of the guard rail sections 7 arealigned with the main line rails 3-3 and the rail sections 5-5 therebyform a continuous rail for traffic moving in that direction. When thetrafiic is resumed on the main line rail sections 2-2 the flanges of thewheels of the moving train strike the ends of the guard rail sections7-7 in approaching the crossing causing the guard rail sections to bemoved longitudinally and laterally with respect to the main line rails2-2, the laterally extending members 14-14 of the guard rail sections 7traveling along the tapered portion of the rail sections 5-5 while theinner ends of the guard rail sections 9-9 move toward the abutment 24,the inner ends 10-10 of the guard rail simultaneously move laterallytoward each other, this action causing the lateral extending members 15of guard rails 8-8 to assum aligned position with the main line rails2-2 and rail sections 4- 4: presenting a continuous rail for traflio inthis direction being held in this position by the spring-actuated bar18.

I claim:

1. A railroad crossing, each rail including a stationary section,longitudinal movable guard rail sections comprising arms, one of whichis resilientlyheld against one of the rail sections while the other armis resiliently held in spaced relation with the oppositely disposed railsections, said guard rail sections adapted to be moved laterally andlongitudinally by the wheels of the moving train.

2. In a rallroad crossing, each rail including a central stationarysection having tapering ends, divided laterally and longitudinallymovable guard rail sections arranged parallel with the stationary railsections and provided at each end with taperingrnembers adaptedto alignwith the ends of the oppositely disposed rail sections, resilient meansnormally holding said divided guard rail sections against longitudinaland lateral movement, the ends of the divided guard rail sections beingspaced from the guard rail and rail sections and adapted to be engagedby the flanges of the wheels of the moving train whereby the guard railsections move both laterally and longitudinally to el'iect a clearancespace between them and the main line rails andthe stationary railsections. a a

3. In a railroad crossing, each rail including a central stationarysection having tapering ends, divided laterally and longitudinallymovable guard rail sections arrangedat the intersections of the mainline sections, said guard rail sections being pro vided with laterallyextending attached members adapted to be moved into alignment with thetapered ends of the station ary rail sections, resilient means normallyinseam tions adapted to be operated by the moving train whereby theguard rail sections are moved both laterally and longitudinally toprovide passage way for the wheels of the movlng train.

4. In a railroad crossing, each rail ineluding a central stationarysection having tapering ends, guard rail sections arranged at theintersection out the main line rails said guard rail sections comprisinga base arranged beneath the rails and having forwardly and rearwardlyprojecting guard rails projecting therefrom in parallel with the mainline rails and rail sections, the inner ends of said guard rail sectionsbeing bent inwardly from the main line rails, members extendinglaterally from the guard rails and adapted to be alternately alignedwith'the main line rails and stationary rail sections, abutmentsadaptedto be laterally engaged by the inner ends of the guard rail sections,resilient means for normally holdingeach of said guard rail sectionsagainst longitudinal and lateral movement, said guard-rail sectionscooperating with the moving train whereby each or the guard railsections ismoved' both longitudinally and laterally to align thelaterally extending members thereof with the -main line rails and toprovide a passage way for the wheels of the moving train. I a

5. A railroad crossing including intersecting main line rails, guardrails at each main line rail intersection, movably supported guard railsections, and resilient toggle means connected with the movableguard-rails for automatically throwing and locking the latter in oneposition or another according to the direction in which the joint of thetoggle passes its dead center. In testimony whereof I hereunto afiix mysignature. 7

JAMES HARRIS HARDY.-

